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Blame game begins as air delays soar

Cuts have affected passengers, but both parties are sticking to their talking points. | AP Photo

At a Tuesday news conference promoting the bill, Moran said the tower cuts are “contrary to public safety” and “unnecessary.” Blumenthal said the towers are “vital to public safety” and the administration’s approach is “penny-wise and pound-foolish.”

Moran said the administration is trying to score political points by making cuts in the places that will have the most visible impact, saying that “something is afoot here.”

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“Let’s not put those who travel in this country’s safety at risk to prove that political point,” Moran told reporters. “It certainly seems that politics is playing a significant role in determining what actions the FAA [is] taking. And every indication I have from conversations with my colleagues is it emanates from the White House.”

Blunt’s bill, meanwhile, would let federal agencies such as the FAA designate some workers as “essential,” sparing them from furloughs. Rockefeller and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) asked LaHood and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta on Tuesday how that bill would affect the FAA’s implementation of the sequester.

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said the Blunt bill might be the only way to deal with the slowdown in air travel.

“It’s not going away so long as we have sequester,” Menendez said.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has called for a different type of legislative solution, though not one that has gotten support from the administration: If the FAA doesn’t have the legal flexibility to spare the air-traffic controllers, he said, Congress should bestow it.

“If for some reason the president or FAA don’t believe they have the flexibility to address this issue, they should ask Congress for the flexibility they need,” McConnell said in a floor speech Tuesday. “Until then, however, they should use the flexibility we all know they do have to ease the burden on passengers.”

Reid has expressed plenty of his own outrage about the impacts on air travel. On Monday and Tuesday, Reid kicked off the Senate’s sessions by excoriating the sequester’s flight delays and cuts to the safety net. He also pressed his plan to use war savings to stave off cuts to essential services.

“Using these savings, Congress could avert the most painful and senseless sequester cuts,” Reid said Tuesday morning. “Cuts to the FAA and the programs that get homeless veterans off the street, fund research and provide meals to needy seniors.”

Later in the day, Reid said he was filing a bill to use the so-called peace dividend to replace about five months of mandatory budget cuts.

Adam Snider and Scott Wong contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 5:28 p.m. on April 23, 2013.